TEAM

Maria is a seasoned practitioner in the areas of banking and financial law, capital markets and regulation, and international business law.

She helps Bulgarian and international credit institutions and other financial sector entities in relation to matters of: bank supervision, prudential requirements for institutions, including structuring of regulatory capital instruments, e.g. AT1, T2 instruments (and their listing on domestic or foreign exchange), BRRD matters (in particular MREL requirements and structuring of MREL instruments), PSD II matters, e.g. EMIs licensing; DCM transactions, including matters related to structured products and securitization. She is also continually active in financial sector M&A transactions.

In addition, Maria is also focusing on recent regulatory and business developments concerning DeFi and sustainable finance (including green products and investments). She can advise you on regulatory and compliance matters in this respect and ESG broadly.

Most recently, Maria took part in some of Bulgaria’s most significant capital markets transactions and financial sector M&A deals such as –  advising the banks – issuers of EUR 130 million AT1 Program and EUR 10 million T2 notes (being the first tranche of an up to EUR 30 million series); advising the sell-side in an M&A deal for the sale of Transact Europe in 2022 (a licensed e-money institution), and more.

Maria acquired her experience as attorney-at-law, as well as in-house counsel (Head of international legal affairs) of one of the top five Bulgarian banks where she took charge of the legal aspects of several pioneering projects such as: leading the legal work for the structuring of the issue of the first AT1 notes in Bulgaria, M&A transactions in the financial sector and Fintech projects. In addition, Maria’s competence in banking, finance and capital markets is complimented by her experience as a legal researcher in these areas in the Frankfurt office of one of the most prominent German law firms in 2016.